Closures have lifted at Coronado’s city beaches for the first time in a month — with a caveat.
The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality has downgraded the water contact closure at Coronado’s city beaches to an advisory, lifting the strictest restrictions just ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. The Avenida Lunar station moved to advisory status July 1, followed by the Coronado Main Lifeguard Tower station on July 3.
Silver Strand State Beach was not so lucky. Both ocean stations there — the north end and the guard shack — remain under a full closure that has been in place since June 2.
The distinction matters. Under county rules, a closure means the beach is off-limits to all water contact because of an imminent health threat from a sewage or chemical spill, and it stays in place until contamination is no longer present in the water. An advisory is a step down: bacteria levels in the water exceed state health standards, and the county advises beachgoers to avoid contact. Advisories are lifted when water samples come back within state standards.
In short: at an advisory beach, the county says swim at your own risk. At a closed beach, it says don’t swim at all.
The closures began after the Parallel Gravity Line in Tijuana collapsed May 29 — two weeks after emergency repairs to the same line were completed — sending flows to the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant well beyond its 35 million gallon per day design capacity.
Current beach status is available at sdbeachinfo.com.
